The Day When Dreaming Ends
by Sabaye Leyr
Summary: It's 1976 and time for the graduates to face the world. Follow betrayals, marriages, death, and the spiral into darkness that leads to the deaths of Lily and James Potter, and how the infamous Marauders keep spirit and humor alive in the darkest time the


The Day When Dreaming Ends  
Chapter One: We Were Fools  
by Sabaye Leyr

Summary: It's 1976 and time for the graduates to face the world. Watch as their dreams are shattered and reality falls into place as the war with Voldemort grows bloodier and the world darker. Follow betrayals, marriages, death, and the spiral into darkness that leads to the deaths of Lily and James Potter, and how the infamous Marauders keep spirit and humor alive in the darkest time the Wizarding World has ever seen.

Author's Note: The song Narcissa puts in her diary entry is called "Almost Charmed", and it was written by me. In the story, however, it was written by Aron and later finished by Remus. Yeah, and Aron's name is not "Ay-ron", its "Aaron", just without the extra "A"

Author's Warning: This is not a story for children. It deals with betrayal, death, hatred, lust, love, damnation, and foolish choices. And even a bit of slash. It's no happy romp--it's meant to cast light on the fanon belief that the Marauders had some perfect life, up until Peter's betrayal and the deaths of the Potters. So, enjoy, and heed my warning if you are looking for a lighthearted tale, or you are a younger teenager. Thanks. :)

_Why live life from dream to dream_  
_And dread the day when dreaming ends?_

_Someday I'll Fly Away, Moulin Rouge_

--

_June 15, 1996-- Narcissa Malfoy's diary_

_It's now or never_  
_We'll all be gone_  
_All too soon...all too soon_  
_It's time to leave, time to say goodbye_  
_Don't wipe away your tears, just let them fall in honor of us_

_We were almost charmed...charmed to be happy_  
_Almost charmed to love_  
_Don't forget my face_  
_So hug me while you can, and smile as we part_  
_Remember how close we came to being charmed?_

_Reality will come, and dreaming'll end_  
_Love will falter--hate will grow_  
_Where jealousy and suspicion are spread_  
_We'll part in tears, because we weren't quite charmed..._

_The sun will shine and rain will pour_  
_And winter will freeze during dark times_  
_These dark times of war._  
_All we can do is hope...hope that in the end we'll all come home_

_In one single night_  
_It's all ended, and I can now look back on all that's been lost..._  
_The dark eyed dreamer/raven haired prankster/ the blond betrayer/ and blue eyed joker/dark haired eccentric/_  
_green eyed mother/ the flame tempered fighter/ and the cold pale girl...._  
_They've all been lost...with the light-haired scholar left alone....._

_We were almost charmed_  
_Almost charmed to live_  
_Almost charmed to laugh and smile together for the rest of our lives_  
_You can't hug me or smile now...you're all gone_  
_And I'm alone...cause I missed being charmed._

_In the end only I came home with shattered hopes and dreams_  
_And that was the day when dreaming ended._

_It's been another year. Another year where I am trapped in darkness and a large mansion. Another year where I must watch my son slowly damn himself, another year since it all began. Why is it always _this_ anniversary that pains me the most? It's hardly the only tragic reminder of what we sold, what was torn from us, and what should have never happened._

_We were fools. That's all I can say. Complete and utter fools to believe that we'd escape the darkness unscathed. Fools to believe that love could overcome all, and fools not to believe in our own mortality. Twenty years ago today the spiral began. Twenty years and it still feels like yesterday..._

_--_

It wasn't the average sunny, bright, fluffy-cloud filled Graduation day. It was raining. Raining buckets; if you stayed outside for more than two minutes there wouldn't be a single dry spot left on you. Dramatic foreshadowing you could say, on the part of the irony-gods.

Despite the rain, Albus Dumbledore was humming as he walked cheerfully down the hall. Not only would today be the day he saw some of his finest students join the working world, he'd be rid of the most troublesome students he'd ever had.

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were quite possibly the greatest pranksters Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had ever seen. Toss in Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape with their deliberate provoking of other students, the general slew of love triangles and other teenage problems, it had been a very harrowing seven years for Albus Dumbledore. But he wouldn't trade them for anything.

A tale tell explosion come from down the hallway, echoing through the stone hallways. Albus was joined by a thin-lipped, annoyed Minerva McGonagall moments later. She walked quickly and stiffly to keep up with him.

"That came from Professor Rieger's office, I believe," Albus commented, looking amused. Professor McGonagall nodded. The Arithmancy teacher was universally hated by the students and usually the butt of the four young men's pranks.

"A farewell gift from Mr. Potter and Mr. Black no doubt," he continued, and McGonagall said nothing. After a moment, Professor Miriam Evans, a tall, thin lady in her fifties who taught Potions and had no relation at all to the student Lily Evans, joined the other two professors.

"Rieger getting her goodbye, eh?" Professor Evans laughed openly. On occasion she'd been known to help students with their mischief making.

"Maybe we should have a graduation ceremony, Albus," Minerva said suddenly, stopping and turning to look at the Headmaster.

Albus halted and returned her look.

"And why should you think that, Minerva?" he asked curiously, a small smile touching his lips.

"Because...because we do need a proper goodbye. There is no telling when we'll see them again, and they're one of the best classes we've had. And..."

"And there is no way to tell who will be here next week and who won't be," Miriam finished, crossing her arms. She never embellished anything. Any hint of amusement left the Headmaster's face, and he frowned slightly.

"No," he said simply. Miriam and Minerva looked surprised at the blunt answer. Albus was usually so much more long winded. With his answer, he began to walk again.

"Why?" Miriam immediately prompted.

"Think a moment, Miriam. Voldemort is more powerful now than he has ever been. How easy would it be to massacre people at a Graduation ceremony? It's far too risky, you both know that. I wouldn't want any of my students being killed--oh, good morning," Albus cut himself off as he rounded the corner and found himself looking at James Potter and Sirius Black.

"Hello, Professor," Sirius said pleasantly, smiling a bit too innocently. James's face, however, was creased into a frown, and Albus had no doubt that the perceptive young man had heard the end of Albus's sentence. He, however, was far more tactful than Sirius, and he didn't say anything.

"Well, hello Mr. Black," McGonagall said icily, and Sirius's smile flickered. He looked like he was debating whether or whether not to bolt. James took a step backwards. McGonagall opened her mouth to say something when there was a loud bang.

The door to Professor Rieger's room had flown open and knocked into the wall. And the aforementioned Arithmancy professor was stalking down the hallway in a rage, right towards James and Sirius. The tall, thinly built but slightly overweight, older blonde Professor was furious. She was streaked with soot and her robes were singed. She also smelled rather peculiar.

"POTTER! BLACK!" the Professor roared. Sirius's eyes widened.

"It wasn't me, I swear!" Sirius nearly squeaked. Rieger stopped in front of him, crossing her arms and glaring. James took another step backwards.

"Oh, really? Who was it then?" She demanded, and Sirius frantically began to think.

It was at that moment that an averaged-sized, dark eyed, brown haired, and tan skinned boy came around the corner. He was a Ravenclaw that spent nearly all his time with the Marauders and other Gryffindors. He was also often a partner in crime, and therefore a fair suspect.

"Aron did it!" Sirius said with a sly grin, pointing at the unsuspecting Ravenclaw. Aron's head snapped around and his face adopted both a confused and suspicious expression.

"Aron did what?" He demanded, warily looking at Sirius. Then he saw the death glare he was getting from Professor Rieger. And he did what Sirius should have done-- he pelted off in the opposite direction, shouting,

"I'm innocent! I've been in my dorm!" his voice faded as he rounded the corner and entered the Great Hall.

Professor Evans had her hands clamped over her mouth, trying not to laugh. It was embarrassing and amusing at the same time to see seventeen and eighteen year olds acting like this.

While Professor Rieger had been running Aron off, James and Sirius took this as their chance to get away, and they dashed around the corner in the opposite direction, leaving the livid Professor and her colleagues behind.

"Calm down, my dear Samantha. Take a few minutes to cool down, then perhaps...take a warm bath," Albus said, sounding faintly amused. Professor Rieger's eye twitched at the indirect shot at how she smelled because of the dungbomb. She merely nodded and stalked off in the direction of the Teacher's lounge.

Miriam hiccupped oddly as she kept a tight grip over her mouth until the Arithmancy professor was out of hearing distance, then burst out laughing.

She was still laughing several minutes later when Aron cautiously stuck his head around the corner, then slipped off towards the Gryffindor dorm.

"Just a few more hours, Minerva, a few more hours," he assured the Deputy Headmistress over the noise of Miriam's laughter. McGonagall frowned.

Dumbledore would be very happy indeed when those children's pranks would be some poor employers problem and not his.

--

James stopped running, leaning against the wall and clutching a stitch in his side. He gasped a couple times, then started laughing. It was hard to run and laugh at the same time.

Sirius grinned cheekily at James as he was doubled over with laughter.

"Too close," James said after several minutes, referring to their brush with the wrath of Rieger. Sirius straightened, then shrugged.

"It was funny," he argued, running his hand through his hair. Suddenly he let out a cry as he was smacked into the wall by a blur.

"Nice aim, Aron," James deadpanned a moment later as the blur became visible. Aron was grinning good-naturedly while he held Sirius pinned against the stone wall.

"Ouch," Sirius replied, glaring at James.

"Thanks for passing the blame onto me, you pillock," Aron said as he let Sirius go. Sirius rubbed his shoulder, and grinned again.

"You're quite welcome, piss-arse." he shot right back. Aron smiled sarcastically at him.

Over the seven years James had known Aron, the boy had changed a lot, but then not changed at all. He was the poetic, quiet, shy, artistic type. But he also had a dry sense of humor and was very smart and fun to be around after you got to know him. He didn't easily trust people well enough to let them see the real him, which wasn't quite as silent. It simply wasn't in his personality to be a huge talker.

James shook his head, chuckling, then approached the large portrait of the Fat Lady. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

"And what have you been up to, Mr. Potter?" she questioned, straightening the puffy sleeves of her bright pink dress.

"Argh, your dress is blinding me! Please, don't make it more obvious!" Sirius shrieked suddenly, coming to stand beside James and throwing his arms across his face.

"You're a prat," James immediately countered. The Fat Lady sniffed indignantly.

"Please excuse him," Aron said soothingly, and the Portrait glared at Sirius.

"Password?" she demanded.

"_Incantium_," James quickly supplied. The old lady sighed, and with a final huffy glance towards Sirius, she swung open.

James, Aron and Sirius quickly scrambled through the Portrait hole, sighing with relief when it clicked shut behind them. They were momentarily safe from the raging Professor.

The Common Room was fairly empty, as most students were finishing breakfast up or packing their things. Several first and second years idly tossed a ball around to each other, chatting loudly about Quidditch and their scores on that year's final exams. Sitting next to the fireplace, which held a roaring fire because of the heavy rain outside, sat four familiar figures.

They were all playing a card game, tossing good-natured barbs at each other and laughing. The only male in the group had a slight smile on his face, but was rather quiet, letting the girls around him do all the talking. He had bright blue eyes, fine light brown hair, and kind features.

A smile crossed Sirius's face, and he strode over and flopped down in one of the chairs close to the foursome sitting on the floor.

"Well, well, well, Remus, what do we have here? Quite the womanizer, aren't you?" Sirius smirked at the light haired boy, who frowned slightly at the remark, a slight blush rising on his cheeks.

"Compared to you? I think not, my friend," Remus shot back, surveying the game quickly and making his move. Sirius let out a mock gasp.

"I am wounded deeply, Remus," he said, clutching a hand to his heart.

The redhead on the left side of Remus and closest to Sirius rolled her eyes. She was very small and thin, with piercing cinnamon colored eyes and a mass of flaming red curls. She threw her hand down, and groaned in frustration as the game exploded in her face.

"Dammit." She hissed, fanning smoke away from her face and frowning.

"Nice move, Laena," Sirius mocked, and the girl smacked his leg. Sirius winced.

"Ow," he complained, pulling any part of his body out of her reach. Laena grinned mischievously, winking at him. Then she turned back to the game.

"Who starts this time?" she asked, brushing a stray curl out of her face. She had a thick Irish accent and a pretty, charming face. She tended to come across as bad natured and violent, although more than half the time she was just joking. Laena O'Shannon was one of Hogwart's top students, along with her best friend Taryn Briant, who was sitting across from her. Laena had to study long and hard to achieve that, though, because although she was naturally bright, it wasn't towards academics. She was a brilliant chess player—excellent at strategy and ingenious traps.

Taryn, on the other hand, was just academically inclined. She hardly had to work for her grades, although she usually did anyway. She kept to herself about her academics; she hardly ever had the inclination to bother others about their study habits or grades. Neither one had made prefect or Head Girl, though, over the simple fact they tended to be in too much trouble. Laena had a problem with keeping her mouth shut when she was angry, and Taryn was slightly absentminded and lost track of time easily, so she tended to rack up a large amount of tardies.

"I guess I will," Taryn replied, tossing out her first hand and studying it once she'd done so. She was tall, and rather stocky, but not to a point of being large. She simply wasn't as thin as Laena, but she wasn't overweight. Her eyes and skin both were dark, as was her hair, which weekly had a different color streak in it. Today her long hair had bright red and gold streaks in it, in honor of the Gryffindor house.

"Hah!" exclaimed the third girl, who had short, almost shaggy blonde hair and bright gray eyes.

"Ohh, Olivia's made a revelation," Laena taunted softly, and the third girl gave her a dirty look as she played her hand.Remus quickly threw his card on the stack, as did Laena. Once again, there was an explosion, followed by numerous different expletives from the Irish girl.

"Okay, I give up. I can't beat any of you," Laena said after she finished cursing. She threw her cards at Sirius. "You can play in my place."

Sirius shook his head.

"Nah, I'm waiting for something, but thanks." Sirius flashed her a smile, and Laena shrugged, heading up the stairs to the dorm.

"Where you going?" Olivia asked.

"To finish packing!" Laena replied, although her voice was distant as she got further up the staircase.

"Procrastinator!" James shouted up after her, grinning when she snorted in annoyance.

"Taryn, where's Lily?" James asked, turning to face the group at the fireplace again. The dark haired girl shrugged.

"Probably still packing or getting photographs or something. Oh, before I forget, Narcissa grabbed me in the Great Hall and told me to tell both Sirius and Aron that she wanted to talk to them before they got on the train to leave." Taryn explained, gathering up the remaining cards from Remus and Olivia.

Sirius's brow furrowed, and Aron's eyes widened. His mouth curled downwards into a sheepish frown.

Before Sirius could ask Taryn to explain more, the Portrait swung open again. This time, a small boy with brown-blond hair and big blue eyes crawled through, his face pale and sweaty. He held a key up in the air, his eyes bright.

"I got it!" He cried triumphantly, and a grin split Sirius's face.

"Great, Peter!" he said, scrambling up from the chair and darting over to Peter.

James blinked, scratching his head.

"What are you up to now?" he questioned, peering at his best friend through his glasses. Another smile graced Sirius's face—a smile that was a little too innocent.

"I have the key to Professor Rieger's room." Sirius replied, taking the key from Peter and waving it in front of James's face as a temptation. James laughed.

"You and Peter have fun, I'm not in on it this time," James said, turning and looking up the stairs to the girls' dorm again.

"Go ahead and run up, mate." Sirius said dismissively, turning his attention to the key and Peter.

"Yeah, and have my ear drums explode. Nice try, Sirius," James commented. Sirius snapped his fingers in disappointment and grinned.

"What did I hear about exploding ear drums?" Laena's voice echoed loudly down the staircase, followed quickly by her footsteps. As soon as she saw James standing at the base of the staircase, she nodded.

"Ah. The alarm," she said knowingly.

"I thought you were packing," Sirius said in a distant, uninterested voice as he broke off his conversation with Peter.

"I finished…" Laena replied, giving Sirius an odd look. The two of them had dated briefly fifth year, but as Dumbledore had aptly put it, the common room could not handle many more explosions. It had been disastrous, and Laena finally dumped Sirius, an episode complete with flying objects and a final explosion.

At the break in conversation, Aron turned to Taryn, who was passively counting he cards before she packed them away.

"What did Narcissa want with…me?" he asked her softly, shifting nervously. Taryn looked up and gave Aron a searching look. It had always been her thought that Aron had a kind of obsession with the pale, cold beauty. She wasn't completely sure, but then she didn't think Aron was either.

Sirius snickered.

"Don't worry about it Aron, she won't eat you," he commented offhandedly, still engrossed to the key to Professor Rieger's room.

There was a long pause as everyone stared at Sirius. Olivia blinked several times, looking slightly traumatized.

"Ew," Laena said with conviction a moment later, and Sirius jumped.

"Oh god, I didn't mean it like that!" Sirius exclaimed, and Aron flushed a deep crimson.

A look of horror crossed Sirius's face and he scrubbed his eyes frantically.

"I don't need to think of my cousin like that! Bad, bad mental images! Damn you, you perverts!" Sirius spat. Laena broke into giggles, and soon after, so did Peter, James, and Olivia. Taryn was staring at them blankly, an odd expression on her face. Sirius was still looking horrified, and Aron was adjusting the lower half of his robes, his face still the peculiar crimson color.

Taryn shook her head. _Yes,_ she thought, _Aron has something for the cold princess of Slytherin. _It was a dangerous thing to have—because the Prince of Slytherin wanted Narcissa Black.

And as Taryn well knew, Lucius Malfoy always got what he wanted.

--

Purple and black clouds swirled across the enchanted ceiling and the candles burned brightly in the dim light of the Great Hall. James was fidgeting nervously at his place on the bench at the Gryffindor table. Sirius poked him.

"Sit still, mate, it's not that bad," Sirius said irritably, waiting for the food to appear.

"Narcissa and Aron," James shot back, a bit nastier than he meant to. Sirius groaned.

"Damn you, James!" Sirius swore, and Remus shook his head while Peter giggled childishly.

A girl with wavy, dark red hair slid into a space on the bench next to James. She fondly ruffled his hair.

James jumped and fell backwards off the bench.

"Hey Lily," Remus said softly, and the redhead gave him a bright smile, then turned to look at James.

James's back was flat on the floor, and his knees were still hooked on the bench. He blinked a couple of times, looking up at Lily.

"Hey," he said weakly. Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and offered him a hand.

James took it and pulled himself upright, a flush spreading from his face to his neck.

"Are you alright?" Lily asked him gently, adjusting his glasses so they sat properly on his nose. James nodded and fidgeted again.

Sirius leaned across the table and tugged on the sleeves of Taryn's robes, drawing her attention away from the book she was reading.

"What makes you think he's up to something?" he asked, whispering conspiratorially to the dark-haired girl. Taryn gave him a faint smile.

"The fidgeting and clumsiness, I think. He only did that hen they first started dating," Taryn whispered back. Sirius grinned at her and settled back into his seat. It was astonishing at times just how much Taryn noticed—despite the fact she was absentminded, kind of dreamy, and always had her nose in a book of some sort.

Taryn stretched leisurely as Sirius turned his attentions to the doors to the Great Hall, where Professor Rieger would be entering from. There was no doubt that he was waiting to see the result of whatever prank he and Peter had pulled on the poor woman. Taryn shook her head. It really was kind of sad. Professor Rieger was a tyrant, and seemed to enjoy it, but Taryn knew the woman must be lonely and that somewhere under her thick skin all the mischief pulled on her hurt her feelings.

The hairs at the back of her neck prickled and she looked up. It felt like someone was watching her, and her dark eyes slid over to the Slytherin table. Narcissa Black was looking past Taryn to the Ravenclaw table, where Aron was sitting, talking to a younger housemate.

Narcissa was beautiful—there was no doubt about it. Even Taryn admired her, and she tended to be one who didn't pay much attention to looks. All the Blacks seemed to have that high, classic beauty. Sirius did, if you cleaned him up and hid away his roguish traits. Bellatrix, Regulus, and even Andromeda, who was still very young, were all extremely attractive people. Taryn found only Sirius and Andromeda tolerable in a personality sense. She didn't really know either Regulus or Narcissa, and she had decided her life was better off if she didn't know Bellatrix.

Narcissa was looking vaguely uncomfortable, and it was a rare thing to see anything but coldness and distance on her face. Taryn supposed that it couldn't be easy being a Black—Sirius had left and moved in with James, after all. Regulus was always subdued and quiet. Only Andromeda matched Sirius in personality and friendliness.

Lucius leaned over and whispered something in Narcissa's ear, and she frowned. Her skin was very light, and her cheeks and nose were dotted with pale, light brown freckles. Her eyes shone an eerie pale blue in the dim light of the Great Hall, and her hair was shoulder-length and an unusual color of silver-gold. It wasn't noticeable since she was sitting down, but Narcissa was only a little over five feet tall. Most of the other people in the school dwarfed her.

Lucius was tall and lanky, with a head full of silky, dark blond half curls. His eyes were grey, and he had the potential to be quite handsome. Taryn never found him to be so, because the maliciousness and sneer that was ever present on his face took away any natural beauty that might have been there.

Aron seemed to feel Narcissa's gaze, and he turned to look at her. Their eyes locked, and Aron blushed faintly and quickly turned away. Narcissa's gaze lingered before she turned back to Lucius.

Taryn's brow furrowed and she filed away this little scene into her memory. She was broken out of her reverie, when Laena, who was one person down from her, let out a curse and flung something that looked suspiciously like a spoon at Sirius for some comment he'd made.

"Jesus, woman," Sirius whined, rubbing the side of his head. Laena glared at him.

"What did you say, Sirius?" Remus asked in a voice of a long suffering peace-maker. He was seated on the other side of Lily, so he had to lean out from the table to see him.

"Nothing, except that she really needed to stop flirting with me. I think even Dumbledore would agree with that, considering the state she left the Common Room in two years ago," Sirius explained, and Remus rolled his eyes while Laena snorted.

"Mess that _I _made? You seemed to help an awful lot," She snarled, and Sirius's eyes twinkled. He always found entertainment in riling up the poor fire-tempered Irish girl.

Remus opened his mouth to reply when he was knocked sideways, crashing into Peter, who spilled his pumpkin juice and completely soaked a fourth year boy.

"Oh dear, I didn't see you there," came a silky smooth voice that was twisted with sarcasm.

Taryn sighed. _Here we go again_…she thought to herself.

"Oh, if it isn't Snivellus!" Sirius exclaimed, and Severus Snape glared menacingly at him. He was the same age as them all, but he still moved with a slight awkwardness that a younger teenager did, as if he wasn't quite used to his body. His hair was jet black and pulled back into a neat, short ponytail, except where several stray bangs hung into his hooded black eyes. Taryn had never particularly liked the Slytherin, although she could admit to herself that she had always been intrigued by him. He wasn't by any means the classic beauty that many of the purebloods of his house were, but he really wasn't as repulsive as James and Sirius made him out to be.

"Severus, dear heart, how many times have I told you that if you come to visit me you must not torture my housemates. I will do nothing to stop them if you provoke them," Laena scolded, and Snape shifted his gaze to her. He continued to glare, but the menace was noticeably absent. Being Muggle-born, Taryn really knew nothing about Pureblood connections, but apparently the O'Shannons were a rather old, gaelic family and the Snapes had their mansion out in Ireland. Laena and Snape had grown up together, and had remained civil and rather sociable to each other despite their opposing houses, but over the years they had grown apart. They no longer had the friendship they had shared as small children, but they also didn't hate the site of each other.

Laena, to tell the truth, felt sorry for Snape and that was a big reason in why she continued to treat him as a real friend instead of the distant acquaintance he had become. They had barely seen each other in the past three or four years. And while Laena would readily admit that Snape was often, if not always, a bastard, she couldn't find it in her heart to participate in the other Gryffindor's retaliations to his acts.

"I don't need you to stop them for me," Snape quipped, and Laena sighed.

"What did you need?" Laena asked a moment later, glaring threateningly at Sirius as he took several small, unobtrusive steps towards Snape.

"My father has sent a letter for you. It came with mine, and demand to pass your half to you." Snape said a moment later. Sirius raised his wand and Laena calmly reached down to her plate and picked up her bread knife.

"I will chuck this at you too, Sirius, dear. He'll be gone in a minute, and you can return to having fits about Narcissa and Aron," She said firmly, and Sirius cursed.

"God damnit, Laena!" he cried when another vivid wave of images assailed his brain. Snape cocked his head to the side and looked intensely at Laena, then at Narcissa, and finally at Aron. He frowned faintly, as if he'd discovered something he'd rather he didn't know. But he did not comment on it, only gave the heavy letter to Laena, and turned and walked away.

"I have no idea of what it says, " he called nastily over his shoulder, sending another sour look at Sirius. Then he returned to his table.

Why they put Gryffindor and Slytherin tables right next to each other, Taryn could never figure out as a verbal spat between the tables broke out at Snape's departure.

Dumbledore rose to his feet, and the noise in the hall filtered to silence. He was dressed in dark robes, something very uncharacteristic for him. Moons and stars and compasses were embroidered all over it's silky surface in a silver very close to the color of his long, flowing beard.

"Yet another year has come and gone," he said softly, and there was a rumble of approval from the students.

"There will be another summer for your romances, fun, and silly stunts—hopefully stunts devoid of magic," he said wryly, and there was a rise of giggles. The laugher died down when they saw the solemn expression that crossed his face.

"We say goodbye to yet another class, and I ask you all to raise a toast to them," he began, his eyes gazing at each one of the young, hopeful faces. How many of them would be dead before the year was out? How many talents and lives squashed out before reaching anywhere near their full potential?

"We are entering dark times, and all I ask is that you pray when you return to school next year, all of your friends return." With that, he raised his glass, and toasted to all his students. To all his beloved children, many of whom would be seduced by power and darkness, murdered and raped, and forced to do horrors under the _Imperious_ spell.

"I call the feast to an end. I know it is quite early, but the rain is heavy and the road treacherous in more ways than one. I bid you goodnight, and will see you all in September," he said softly, and there was a ripple of fear amongst the younger students.

The plates vanished and the rumble of the horseless carriages could be heard, and Dumbledore and Hagrid were pulling open the great doors and gesturing for them all to leave.

James wondered what peril they were whisking them away from, what unseen danger. He could see why they would not be open about it, but it still annoyed him. Perhaps they could help. Or perhaps he was only reading too much into Dumbledore's perfectly logical explanation.

Before they knew it, they were whisked away and placed on the Hogwarts Express, watching the past seven years vanish into the sheets of rain.

"Wow," Peter said softly after a moment, and there was a murmur of agreement among them all. For the time being, the entirety of their little "group" was stuffed into one small compartment. Sirius was already complaining and there was talk of who to split up to put in other compartments so they didn't kill each other from being too close together.

"Well, I am going to talk to Narcissa," Aron spoke up in his soft, melodious voice.

"You'll brave the Slytherins for that?" Peter asked incredulously, and Aron shrugged, the ghost of a smile crossing his face.

"No, not really. All I have to do is camp the girl's loo and she'll come out eventually," he said wryly, and James laughed.

"Then you'll be labeled a pervert and a stalker," he pointed out, and Aron shrugged again.

"So? It's not like the rumor that our classmates hear matter anymore. We'll not see most of them again," Aron's words sank everyone into silence when they considered this. No, rumors wouldn't be the end of all things anymore. House rivalries, Quidditch games, and classes were all over and done with. For good.

Sirius stood up and elbowed Laena out of the way. "I might as well go too," he sighed, and headed towards the door. James reached up and grabbed the back of his robes and yanked him back into his seat.

"Not right now you're not," he said through gritted teeth, and Sirius noticed that his friend was pale and sweaty.

Aron gave James an odd look, then spoke a couple of soft good-byes and disappeared.

Lily was playing absently with her hair, peering out the window where Hogwarts would still be visible if not for the rain.

"It's really over," she said quietly, shaking her head. It was a hard fact to accept.

"Well, uh…since…since you're ending one stage of your life…" James began, and Lily turned to look at him, her brilliant eyes curious.

"How would you feel….er…starting another…with…with me?" he continued, turning bright red and stuttering slightly. Lily's eyes widened.

"James, are you…" she started, and James cut her off.

"Lilywillyoumarryme?" he babbled, slamming all the words together. Even in the garbled sentence, Lily knew what he meant.

"Oh, you silly man, of course I will!" Lily replied, laughing richly. So this was why he had been being so jittery! He was nervous! James's face broke out in a smile, a brilliant, true smile, the kind that one rarely sees on anyone's face. He quickly pulled a ring out of his pocked and slid it onto Lily's finger, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

And the cheers that erupted from the eight people in that tiny compartment startled everyone else on the train. Aron, sitting on the train floor by the girl's loo grinned, because he knew what had probably happened.

And the gloomy weather, the impending war and Dumbledore's solemn words were forgotten in the happiness of one moment. The rest of their lives had taken off with a roaring start, and they thought from there it could only get better.

Oh, if only fate didn't play such games, and if only they knew.

A/N: Phew! That took me over a year to finish that one damn chapter! Argh! I have the entire story pretty much laid out….it just might take me a while to get it into chapters. So, I hope you enjoyed, and please review. :)


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